A day after the 21st Edition of the National Guidance and Counseling Day in Cameroon under the theme “The Socio-professional future of the students at the heart of the Ministry of Secondary Education’s Priorities”, Open Dreams in the same spirit, went further to organized a “Student Symposium” which brought about 250+ students from across the secondary and high schools in Cameroon. I must say it was an honor and a privilege to have successfully organized the student Symposium 2023 in Bafoussam Cameroon. This program was intended to bring to the knowledge of young talented teenagers across the West Region of Cameroon existing opportunities the world has to offer them and equally how they can take advantage of such through the help of Organizations like Open Dreams, The Urega Foundation, The HALI ACCESS Network and more.
It was a long day and a day well spent exchanging and impacting the lives of young Cameroonian teenagers, opening highlighting existing scholarship opportunities and how they can take advantage of them now. This program took place at the Kingdom Embassy Bafoussam Auditorium and was massively attended by 250+ students from 10+ secondary and high schools across Bafoussam.
Mr. Ngolefac Emmanuel in his welcome addressed, dazed the students when he expounded on how they can become great if they could just Dream Big and Take Risk! “Dreams are Valid” he said, and he implored the students to take up their pens and and bloc notes to write down all essential points as the facilitators were ready to give out their experiences as applications were concerned. Everyone can be successful if he/she believes in their personality and potentials. Believe in yourself, be unique and be you, be genuine and above all, be real. Scholarship are not a myth, they are real so work hard, build your capacity and trust God in the process as you embark on it.
The students were encouraged to hear about scholarship experiences especially when the fifteen-year-old student, Lindsay Zokou the TechGirl shared her experience in the USA. Her story was on point. Later Mrs. Ngolefac presented on “PEER PRESSURE” and her presentation helped many students to identify and handle negative peer pressure.
As the saying goes, “Learning without playing makes Jacks a dull boy”, students and youth stole the show with music presentations and displayed their talents in dancing. Immediately after the talent display, Rev. Harmony Ngafeeson came up and encourage the students and said “Dreams are Valid and we have seen how Open Dreams is working relentlessly to see that you have verified and authentic information about scholarships first hand but if you are not disciplined, you will certainly not benefit from them”. Be discipline, stay away from hard drugs, irrelevant relationships and above all, respect your parents, teachers and in fact everyone in your community. He added that do not forget to be part of extra-curricular activities in school, church, as well as in your respective communities. To close it up, he prayed for the students and blessed them.
Another exciting moment was during the light refreshment and networking just before the photo shots which ended the day.
A report from Open Dreams Bafoussam by Emmanuel Ngolefac, Regional Program Coordinator, Open Dreams
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